New Orleans Pelicans Add Shooters in Salmons, Fredette, and Miller

After the trade for Omer Asik, Dell Demps had the core of his roster in place, but there were still holes on the wings. As the saying goes, ‘You can never have enough shooting’, and Dell is proving that by adding John Salmons, Darius Miller and JimmerFredette to fill out the roster this week, according to reports. While John Salmons struggled a bit last season with other aspects of his game, he was still a terrific shooter, as he nailed 42.6% of his catch-and-shoot 3-pt attempts. JimmerFredette was at 50% on catch-and-shoot threes last year, though on a limited sample size. And Miller has always been a good shooter when he is willing to let them go. He hesitates far too often, but last season we saw Miller take a step forward as he was instrumental in wins over the Clippers and Thunder late in the year.

Salmons is the guy most likely to get significant minutes when all these guys are healthy, and the hope is that he thrives in a more limited role. In Sacramento and Toronto, he handled the ball a lot, with pick and rolls and isolations accounting for over 40% of his possessions. He was ineffective in those settings, but was great when he just set his feet and shot off of kick outs. With Tyreke Evans, Eric Gordon, Jrue Holiday, Russ Smith, and Austin Rivers all likely to handle the ball, the hope is that all Monty will ask Salmons to do is hit the spot-up three.

Just over 35% of Salmons two-point baskets were assisted on. It is no coincidence that he shot just 35% from two-point range. Meanwhile, nearly 94% of Salmons three-point makes were assisted on. It is also not a coincidence that he shot 39% from three, including 47% from the corner. If utilized properly, there is no doubt that Salmons can have a positive effect on the offensive end. The bigger question is whether his 35-year-old legs can keep up with the young wings on the other end. Watching his defensive possessions on Synergy, I see an intelligent team defender with length that should be able to push his man into the defensive lockjaw that is Anthony Davis and Omer Asik.

JimmerFredette is the biggest variable of the three. A 10th overall pick just three years ago, Fredette is now on his third team and has been an effective scorer, but is a guy coaches need to hide on the other end. He also tends to play with the ball too much on the offensive end, as he still seems to believe he is more of a point guard than a shooting guard. As I noted, he is a terrific spot-up shooter, but over his career, only about 15% of his shots have come on the spot-up while nearly 50% have come out of the pick and roll.

When you sign guys for the minimum, you play the ‘If’ game. If Anthony Morrow could stay healthy, he could be a real find for this team. If Alexis Ajinca can keep from fouling so much…. If Pops Mensah-Bonsu…., etc. Well, it’s no different for Jimmer. IF you can hide him on defense and put one or two shot blockers behind him, and IF you convince him to just catch-and shoot, then you might have a bit of a steal here.

Darius Miller is no different. IF he can play with the defensive intensity that we saw him play with against Durant and IF he has the confidence in his offensive game that he showed against the Clippers, then his experience in this system can give him a chance to jump into the rotation. What Dell Demps has done here is throw 20-25 minutes out there in front of numerous players who are desperate to prove that they belong in this league and told them to go out there and prove that they can get the job done.

They don’t have to do too much. The superstar is here. The playmakers are all over the court. Just catch-and shoot, oh and play some defense. In addition to these three, Luke Babbitt has been working all summer to improve his speed and agility so he can defend the small forward position. It looks like there are some hungry shooters on the Summer League team too, but with guaranteed contracts, these guys will have the first crack at those 20-25 minutes. And what they need to do is clear: Just Catch. And Shoot.

I
have watched almost all of Fredette's games for the past four years. He was
simply abused in Sacdemento by Two hapless coaches who obviously had personal
issues with Fredette. They lied repeatedly about getting Fredette
more playing time on their sorry team . Despite the fact that Fredette had some
of the best per minute stats in the NBA he sat and sat and sat...

.
SCORES and scores of times Fredette would come off of the bench and light it
up..Scoring 10, 12 15 points in a quarter or less only to be benched for the
rest of the game .Video tape doesn't lie Fredette is not just a Great 3pT
shooter , he is a scoring FREAK. He can do it from anywhere on the court . He
drives to the hoop as easily as he did in college, Is an Excellent passer
and facilitator and he Creates his own shot as well as anyone in the game
watch this video of Fredette toying with NBA defenders ..10 mins of Fredette
scorching NBA defenders:

I'm not a fan of Salmons (i just think he is trash, old and on the decline) i would have rather roll the dice on C. Fells off the summer leauge squad. Who i think can do everything Salmons will do and could have done it better and would have been cheaper. But in Dell i TRUST!!! #Byrdgang

Say what you want about Demps, but he is the most hard-working and resourceful GM's in the NBA..

It's rather lazy for some GM's to just sign three big high-priced free agents and surround them with d-league talent and say go when the title for me.. Anybody can do that..

but how many can actually fill out a roster with significant talent around their superstar without losing anything of tangible value in return..

Just think for second..Under the Gun from a win now or else owner and fan base with limited cap space and resources this off-season, he managed to improve this roster more than anybody ever anticipated .. and didn't weight the team down with bad contracts to do it..

In the big picture, it is very likely we have our longterm solution at C and we will get a significant upgrade at SF within a year. But in my opinion the quality of our SF position this year is similar to last year's, and that is a disappointment and a concern for the 14-15 season. There are only two experience SFs on the roster: oldie Salmons (who I like more than most) and bowling ball Evans (who is really a guard and will probably play guard next year). I thought we needed a youngish athletic '3 &D' SF.

So why did we sign Jimmer? Does he make Rivers more expendable? Do we know we are not picking up Rivers $3.1M option for 15-16 and need a backup plan?

Overall, the Asik deal makes this summer a great success and I am happy with the one year Salmons deal. But I thought we would sign a CDR type SF for the minimum, not a one dimensional PG.

Maybe in time he can contribute 6-10 minutes a game with the right unit around him.

Another thing worth noting is that his percentages have improved every year. He shoots near 50% from 3, and has drastically raised him FG% since his rookie % of 39% (up to .475). His true shooting percentage has improved every year as well, and is now 6th best among all PGs. Only his Turnover Ratio got worse, but his Assist Ratio increase as well. I hope he gets some playing time, although Monty won't like his defense.

I also like his knack for finding bigs on the short dump-off passes when he drives. He also makes some nice passes in the pick and rolls. Just gotta get those turnovers down.

I think he got written off after his rookie season, and then became another product of the Kings culture. In CHI he only played 8 games. I fully expect him to outperform his contract. I think this will go down as another great (albeit small) signing by Dell.

To me the Jimmer signing signals that Evans will get the vast amount of his mins at SF, like I projected the other day. Has nothing to do with Rivers. If injuries happen to EG, Jimmer can be moved into the rotation for a few minutes.

A min contract with some upside and no downside. Is not a threat to anybody on the roster

We get too hung up on positions. What we needed was shooting to space the floor. Dell rounded up a passel on the cheap. We can mix and match and see who can contribute best to the core. I kind of hope it's Darius but Salmons will probably get the first shot at the job.